Whispers from the Undefined
by Ree-Dur-Old
Summary: When people start hearing whispers that hit too close to home for comfort, they start doubting themselves and all that they do, even if they listen to one whisper, the others will still continue, is there anyway appease these faceless complaints?


"Decisions, Decisions." Yang mumbled as she looked between two food stands.

The Vytal Festival was still in full swing, and Yang was out getting a snack.

"A hotdog." Yang said looking at one stand, before turning and looking at another stand. "Or a taco?"

But, before she could choose, voices drifted into her hearing range, they were barely above a whisper.

_"Clearly she wants a hotdog!" _

_"Are you blind!? She wants a taco!"_

_"She has proven to like hotdogs, I haven't even seen her consider a taco!"_

_"You are blind! She has been giving subtle hints about loving tacos!"_

_"Stop projecting on her!" _

_"I'm not projecting! You just can't accept the facts! You're projecting your own view of food preferences on her!"_

Then a new voice, this one softer, and less certain. _"Hey, hey, stop it, can't we just agree she likes both."_

The previous two voices went back to shouting whispers.

Yang, by this point, had forgotten about her snack, as a weird feeling set in her stomach. She looked around, but couldn't spot anyone who could talk, she was surrounded by the 'Undefined.' But the shadowy third intelligent residents of Remnant couldn't talk, right?

{Line Break.}

"Hey Ruby?" Jaune started as he walked into the library where Ruby was studying.

"Yeah, Jaune." Ruby responded but didn't pause while writing done some notes from the book she was reading.

Jaune took a seat across from Ruby, he seemed nervous, hesitant, but eventually he sighed and asked. "Am I attractive?"

That did cause Ruby to pause for a second, and in that second, her mind raced through reasons as to why Jaune would ask, before she came to the one she saw as the most reasonable. "Is this about Weiss?" She asked as she resumed writing.

Jaune took a moment to think, and then sadly said. "No, not really."

Ruby paused again, with her most reasonable guess out, her mind went racing again, she didn't want to embarrass herself by jumping to weird conclusions, unfortunately, her body didn't seem to understand that. After chuckling nervously with flushed cheeks, she decided to clear up what she was mostly likely misunderstanding. "W-why are you asking me?" Again, a miscommunication between her mind and body, she should've been asking different questions.

"Well, Pyhrra would've been too comforting, Nora's too Nora, Ren gives good advice but it would've been too awkward. Weiss might still have a grudge against me, so she wouldn't be honest, I don't even talk to Blake, so I feel she just lie to get me to leave her alone, and Yang would probably just tease me."

Well, that cleared up most thoughts Ruby had, she was just chosen by a process of elimination.

"Plus you are my first friend at Beacon." Jaune added.

Some thoughts returned to Ruby's mind, but she was able to properly communicate with her body to ask a question that didn't steer the conversation to weird waters. "Why are you asking?" Good, Ruby managed to not make it about her.

"Oh, well." Jaune went back to being nervous. "I overheard some whispers of people arguing about some guy. I didn't hear the start but someone was calling this guy useless and pathetic, and the other was saying the opposite, the total opposite, they were praising and basically worshipping him. Then the first voice came back with a vengeance, practically calling for blood." Jaune waited a moment to collect his thoughts. "I started feeling weird, and then I started thinking about myself, 'Am I like this guy?' I asked myself, I discarded the extremes they used, I'm not that special, so I found myself leaning toward the negative side of the argument. And then I couldn't find anything positive to balance out the negative." He took another moment, and let out a dry chuckle, before continuing in a self deprecating tone. "In a pathetic attempt to save my self-esteem, I thought to myself: 'I might make a good boyfriend.' That thought didn't go far, but I always believed love to be complicated, so my own opinion might not matter. If, for whatever reason, I'm attractive to someone else, then... I don't know." Jaune sighed. "I guess my true question is whether or not I have any worth."

Ruby stayed silent as Jaune explained himself, if she was someone else, she would've pitied Jaune, but she didn't pity him, and unfortunately, she couldn't fully sympathize with him. "Jaune, I... I can't say I understand exactly what your feeling, my whole life I've had someone to catch me if I fell and help me get back up, I never questioned myself, but I do know the feeling of wanting to prove yourself. But Jaune, you don't have to prove yourself to anyone, not even yourself. You have a team to lead, a team that puts their dreams, hopes and lives in your hands, they believe in you, Team RWBY believes in you the headmaster of Beacon believes in you. Even if you can't see your own worth, we'll always see it. I've told you before, you're not a failure." Ruby finished with a smile.

"Thanks Ruby." Jaune said, getting up from his seat. "I'll need to think about your words, but still, thanks for another pep talk." With that Jaune walked away with more pep in his step, Ruby's speech didn't fix everything, but it gave him the tools to do it himself.

But before Jaune could exit the library, Ruby called out "Oh, and Jaune?"

"Yeah." Jaune said as he stopped walking.

"You're a pretty good catch, Weiss doesn't know what she could've had." Ruby said answering his first question.

Jaune smiled and said his thanks before leaving.

Ruby was also in a better mood, glad she was able to help her first friend at Beacon, but as she was about to continue her studies, she heard some whispers that caught her attention.

_"Immature, moronic, and painfully naïve, she's so one-dimensional!"_

_"Your mind is just so clouded with cynicism that you can't even comprehend why her traits make her so great."_

Ruby looked around the library, she was on edge because of what Jaune told her, but she couldn't see anyone capable of making the whispers she heard.

Aside from her, the library was filled with Undefined, and if they couldn't talk, that meant the whispers couldn't have come from the Undefined.

Right?


End file.
